(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for supplying a trawl and particularly for supplying a trawl for travel through a baiter.
(b) Description of Prior Art
In trawling operations a main or ground line is fed into the water through a baiter, as the trawler travels through the water. Individual short lines known as gangions are attached to the ground line at spaced intervals, a fish hook being attached to the free end of each gangion. As the gangions are drawn through the baiter, bait portions are hooked by the hooks.
The ground line with the attached gangions and hooks is known as the trawl.
Existing trawl supplying apparatus employs elongated hook racks in which the gangions hang by their hooks in side by side relationship. Typically a hook rack may be 8 feet long and support 100 hooks per foot. The gangions are suitably attached to the ground line at spaced apart intervals of about 42 inches, however, the spaced intervals may be varied according to the preference of individual fishermen.
A hook rack is moved to an appropriate position relative to the baiter, and the trawl is drawn from the hook rack and through the baiter, when the hook rack is empty it is removed and is replaced by a fresh hook rack to continue the supply of the trawl. The ground line is usually formed in predetermined lengths of about 1,400 feet and so after two hook racks have been used it is necessary to attach the trailing end of the ground line from the second hook rack to the leading end of the ground line in the third hook rack. Most trawlers employ manual replacement of hook racks, although automatic assemblies have been developed which are employed by some larger trawlers.
When the trawling operation is completed the steps are reversed to fill the racks with the trawl, for subsequent use, but, of course, the trawl need not pass through the baiter when being withdrawn from the water.
The conventional system employing manual replacement of the hook racks has the particular disadvantage that the supply of trawl is necessarily interrupted each time that a hook rack is emptied, while the empty rack is removed and a fresh hook rack is brought into place. In addition storage space is required on the deck to securely store the empty racks in the vicinity of the trawl supplying assembly.
The automatic trawl supplying assemblies, on the other hand, are costly, and only economic for large trawlers.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for the continual supply of a trawl, without interruptions.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus for the supply of a trawl which is of relatively simple construction.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus for the supply of a trawl which does not require time consuming manual operations for replacing empty hook racks by filled hook racks.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus for the supply of a trawl which does not require deck storage space to be maintained in the vicinity of the apparatus, for empty hook racks.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method for supplying a trawl through a baiter, which employs equipment of relatively simple construction and yet does not necessitate interruptions for replacement of empty hook racks with filled hook racks.